Futuristic vision of city life on offer

2020-05-25

Xinglong Lake in Chengdu's Tianfu New Area received a large number of sightseers during the five-day May Day Holiday. The beautiful environment and parklike layout of the city have won the area a good reputation online.

"I'd already heard Xinglong Lake is very beautiful. I brought my family to have a good time," said a local resident Zhang Dan.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, her family was once locked down at home. Now they are eager to go outside for a walk and breathe the fresh air.

Zhang and her family took a walk on a footpath around the lake. They took photos, basked in the sunshine on the grass, flew kites with children and visited the Tianfu New Area park city exhibition hall beside the lake.

The exhibition features a comprehensive illustration of a park city. A 5D short film detailing the overall plan and development of a park city describes how people will work, study and live in a park city in the future.

"It's so beautiful, far more amazing than I thought," Zhang said. She had heard of efforts by the local government to build a park city in Chengdu, but didn't know what it looked like.

Since the park city initiative began in February 2018, the city has adhered to the overall layout of development to fulfill public expectations for an ideal living environment.

In Xinglong Lake, Tianfu New Area, a green development model of protecting plants and preserving water resources is emerging.

A few years ago, the lake was surrounded by muddy land and choked with thick grass. After the construction of the park city, it has incorporated sightseeing and leisure programs, and is assisting in flood prevention and irrigation. It has now become the largest manmade lake in Chengdu.

The water area of Xinglong Lake is about 3 square kilometers. Around the lake, there is a footpath, a green belt and city streets.

The pleasant environment surrounding the lake has attracted a large number of science and technology enterprises. High-profile companies from home and abroad, such as China Aerospace Science and Industry, Venustech and Nokia, have also settled nearby.

"When I first came here, nothing attracted me more than the huge lake in front of me," said Xu Yan, 32. He quit his job in Beijing last year to work in Chengdu Science Town, an industrial park built around part of the lake.

He said that the beautiful environment and work-life balance were the biggest factors in his decision to live in Chengdu.

The office of Xu's company faces Xinglong Lake. Outside is a red road that goes around the lake. Xu, also a marathon runner, said he feels a strong sense of happiness working there.

The Xinglong Lake Bookstore, which is to open in June, is regarded as one of the most beautiful bookstores in the city because of its unique architecture and picturesque surroundings.

The design of the lakeside bookstore was selected from 249 schemes collected from designers in the United States, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan and other places around the world. Its shape is similar to that of a book falling open.

According to Wang Bo, director of the Park City Research Institute in Chengdu, the bookstore embodies how the value of ecology can be transformed into that of culture.

Besides the bookstore, many high-quality public service projects such as a tennis center, holiday homes, a park library and a Sichuan cuisine experience center are settling around the lake.

Luxi Wisdom Valley is another example of Chengdu's park city efforts. As the core area of Chengdu Science Town, it has a planed area of about 98 sq km. There, 53 key high-tech programs such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences Chengdu Research Center, Chengdu supercomputing center and Huawei Kunpeng platform have gathered.

"Here we will not only create a park city with birds and flowers, but also a dynamic economic platform with diversified formats," said a government official.

A park city is not about building parks in the city, but to explore a new form of city construction and a new path to promote ecology and generate a new driving force for high-quality development, the official said.

The changes around Xinglong Lake are an example of the area's construction under the framework of a park city in Tianfu New Area. According to an official in the new area, the two-year construction process not only showed the beauty of nature and the city, but also displayed the beauty of humanity and life.

About 70 percent of the area is now covered with plants, rivers, lakes and crops. New areas for residents and corporations are emerging under the framework of a park city.

"By focusing on the construction of the park city and its new development concept, we are creating a new model for the city of the future," the government official said.

Through its efforts to improve citizens' well-being, the new area is attempting to make a green and low-carbon lifestyle the mainstream in economic development and public life.

China Daily